[Liver tumors and oral contraceptives. Report of a case and review of the liverature].

On laparotomy in a 33-year-old woman presenting with signs of chronic cholecystitis and cholelithiasis, a tumor (diameter 4.5 cm) of the right lobe of the liver was found and resected. It proved to be a hamartoma (focal nodular hyperplasia). At the age of 20 years the patient had been treated by radiation and chemotherapy for stage I Hodgkin's disease. Oral contraceptives had been prescribed for a period of 2 years. In the literature approximately 70 cases of chielfy benign liver tumors have been reported in women taking oral contraceptives. More than one third of these cases came to light because of life-threatening intraabdominal bleeding due to rupture of the tumor. A causative relationship between hepatic tumors and the use of oral contraceptives is suggested. As yet, however, there is no conclusive evidence to support this suggestion.